So I packed my things and brushed my teeth. I ate 2 bananas also before I left. I was quiet as I didn't want to be heard. When I was packed up I noticed I needed to refill my water jugs as it was hot and a long way towards live oak where there would be water. So I walked to the front of the church and there was a hose there. I looked for the nozzle but the hose ran behind the bushes back to the side door the man entered. I needed water so I went over there. Just as I was in front of the door it opened and nearly hit me. The man saw me and said in a startled but friendly voice "hey!". I told him I was sorry if I startled him but I was just looking to fill my water bottles up. He said it was no problem and he actually said he would fill them in the sink inside the church. He was really cool. So he filled them and afterwards asked what I was doing? I told him about the journey I was on and how it has been amazing so far. He thought it was cool and said I am a first hand witness to the power of god. That pumped me up! He put his hand on my shoulder and said a prayer for me. Then he gave me $2 he had in his pocket and said good luck.
So the morning started off great! I got onto highway 90 west and started walking with a smile and in a good mood. I walked for about 4 miles when I saw something on the side of the road. I looked down and it was a credit card. A visa. I picked it up and it was clean and looked like it must have flew out a window or something not too long ago. I know that sucks because I've lost credit cards before where someone ended up using them to get hundreds of dollars of gas. I figured I would take it and try and buy some pizza. I'm kidding. I took it with me and there was a gas station about a mile ahead. I went inside and let them know I found it and maybe they could track the guy down. And I told them to tell the guy a homeless dude with very little money turned it in. The guy at the gas station smiled and said he sure would.
So I continued walking. About 10 minutes later a girl pulled up next to me and stopped. She asked if I would be on 90 in about 10 minutes. I told her yes and all day after that too. She said she would be back. She returned and brought me 2 hot slices of pizza from the gas station and a large ice cold water. I was so juiced! She said she had a bad morning and she hoped that of she did something good her day would turn better. We talked a while and she was really into what I was doing. She asked if I needed anything else and I said just a prayer once in a while. She said of course. She gave me her email and said good luck! I slammed a slice of pizza while it was Hott and drank about half of the cold water.
Just as she pulled away another car pulled up. It was a mother and her daughter of maybe 10 or so. They handed me a bag out of the window and said its not much but it might help. It was a bag with Lolly pops, a canned soup, a plastic fork, a bag of peanut butter crackers, and 2 band aids. I told them that means so much and it will help me a lot. I usually thank people thoroughly as it means a lot to me. They said no problem and drove off.
It was still early in the day and already it was a great start. The support was just amazing! Then about an hour after that The girl who gave me the pizza passed again and stopped. She said she went and had lunch with her son and her day was already getting better. She asked again if there was something else I needed. But I told her I was ok. She said again good luck and took off.
Another hour ahead another van pulled off in front of me. It was another young girl. She got out and was carrying a banana, two oranges, and a can of pecans. She said her friend was the girl who stopped earlier. She said they hadn't talked in months but when her friend talked to me it reminded her of the friend(girl in van) and she called her and talked and also said she met me. She said it was great to hear from her friend and she wanted to drive out and help me. I was overwhelmed with how many supportive people I had approach me on this day. The girl gave me a hug, took my name for Facebook, and took off.
I ended up turning my food sign upside down because I had too much food that I needed to eat before it went bad and I didn't want to add too much more. Pretty cool when your homeless and actually almost have too much of something that you had none of a week before.
So I walked in the heat for a long ways. I finally got to a gas station just before the town of live oak. I stopped there to charge my things and catch up on the blogs. I wasn't sure if I was gonna write the blogs but I decided I will at least for now. I sat there for a while in the shade and cooled down. After a while I was charged up, refilled the water jugs, and decided to have a good evening walk. So I headed into live oak.
I walked through the town and it was descent. I kept walking and as soon as I was out of town I started looking for a place to crash. I didn't see anything right out of town so I kept going. I still didn't see anything and it was dark. It was all just really thick trees on both sides and I started to worry about finding a descent place to camp. After walking way longer than I had expected I saw the highway 10 overpass ahead. I thought it might have something so I would walk there and find out.
I got to the 10 and all there was was an old abandoned gas station. The prices were 2.42 so I knew it had been closed a while haha. I walked up and it was pretty ragged and dirty with trash all around. I was worried about snakes as I had already seen a few on the road today and I know they like the heat of concrete as it holds heat at night from the days sun. So I made my camp there as it was slim Pickens around the area. I made my bed on the concrete and ended up putting my tarp over me and folded the edges under me so that I laid on them and it acted as an enclosed space so snakes or bugs would stay out, most bugs.
So it was a rough surface and sleep was not good that night, but I guess the day couldn't be perfect. So it was still a good one.
2 comments:
It's amazing what people will do. I always stop for people on the highway if they need help, especially motorcyclists, always have tools in my vehicle just in case. Can't wait for the next post!
I got a good laugh from your credit card/pizza joke. I couldn't believe you were going to do that! Then I read that you were joking. Even though you've already made it home, I'm really enjoying your blog and living vicariously through you.
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